Live · Reported · 11/10/2026 06:52
GTA 6: Zelnick partly blames the game for NBA 2K27's softer sales
NBA 2K27 passed 4 million copies but fell short of Take-Two's forecast, and CEO Strauss Zelnick partly points to GTA 6.
Sources shanethegamer.com
NBA 2K27 passed 4 million copies but fell short of Take-Two's forecast, and CEO Strauss Zelnick partly points to GTA 6.
Sources shanethegamer.com
NBA 2K27 has sold more than 4 million copies since September, still short of what Take-Two forecast. According to Shane the Gamer, which breaks down the results released on 9 November, Strauss Zelnick partly blames GTA 6, ten days before launch.
The fiscal second quarter, ended 30 September, shows $1.60 billion in net bookings against roughly $1.65 billion expected by Wall Street. The $50 million gap is about 3% of analyst forecasts. In a Bloomberg interview, Zelnick says some players kept their money for GTA 6 instead of buying the basketball game.
He adds a second reason: a crowded September release schedule, partly because other publishers wanted to ship before GTA 6's launch window. In a separate IGN interview the tone is softer: "this timing may have affected performance so far".
The nuance matters. On the earnings call, president Karl Slatoff said it was "really hard to know exactly" why the game came in under forecast, pointing to other market events and not naming GTA 6. The GTA 6 explanation is therefore the CEO's reading, not a figure the publisher says it measured.
Read also GTA 7: Zelnick says GTA content will look dramatically different in a decade
Zelnick frames the result as good news: NBA 2K27 is the second-biggest launch in the series, and rival sports games are also selling less this year. "If your lunch is going to be eaten, I'd rather be the one eating it," he told Bloomberg. NBA 2K has now passed 175 million units sold.
The business model explains the calm: recurrent spending (virtual currency, add-ons, in-game purchases) made up 81% of the quarter's bookings, around $1.3 billion. Most of the money arrives after launch, which Take-Two also expects from GTA 6 through GTA Online, as we covered in our piece on GTA Online support.
Nothing changes for GTA 6 players: the date stays 19 November, detailed on the release page. But the episode shows the game's shadow already weighs on the whole industry calendar, even inside its own publisher. We will see whether Take-Two titles released after 19 November feel the same effect.
Sources shanethegamer.com
Reported Reported by the press, not confirmed by Rockstar
By Gabriel Janvier · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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